Quotations for Motivation #7 --- Enthusiasm

Quotations on Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is to be judged by the situation that arouses it and the purpose that it tries to fulfill.

—E.F. Hayward, The Monroe News-Star, Monroe, La., June 1, 1941.

Enthusiasm comes from motivation–from a burning desire to acquire or achieve a definite goal.

—Napoleon Hill, Houston Post, Houston, Texas, Nov. 9, 1956.

Enthusiasm gives power to purpose.

—J. Benjamin Lawrence, Baptist Record, Jackson, Miss., Aug. 12, 1915.

A real, wholesome enthusiasm is not found alone. It belongs to a large family of superb qualities. It carries with it courage, industry, persistency, optimism, self-confidence, and many other qualities. Enthusiasm is a real miracle worker.

Enthusiasm is an intensity of affection which gives wings to desire and inspires interest with eagerness.

—J.W. Storer, Baptist Standard, Dallas, Texas, Aug. 6, 1931.

Enthusiasm is the keynote of success. It prompts that serious application in thought and practice which often passes under the guise of genius.

—Grantland Rice, New York Tribune, New York, N.Y., Feb. 5, 1918.

Enthusiasm is more than the excitement of a ball game or a parade. Indeed, enthusiasm does not always find exclamatory expression, but may be quiet and tense until the moment for action arrives. Life is not gauged in terms of spoken words or outward show, but in works accomplished. Back of real enthusiasm lies a nobility of purpose that exists in spite of hardships or opposition and that holds true in days of plodding or marking time.

If you can't be enthusiastic about your work, it's time to get alarmed. Something is wrong. Compete with yourself; set your teeth and dive into the job of breaking your own record. No man keeps up his enthusiasm automatically. Enthusiasm must be nourished with new actions, new aspirations, new efforts, new visions It is one's own fault if his enthusiasm is gone; he has failed to feed it. If you want to turn hours into minutes, renew your enthusiasm.

Some of us, fearful of our dignity, suppress enthusiasm and try to appear, if not cynical, at least solemn. We fear we won't be thought heavy thinkers if we give way to enthusiasm for anything. That's too bad. The decline of enthusiasm is the first real sign of old age. We ought to be proud to be able to be enthusiastic. It's a sign of continued youth. It's a sign of continued intelligence, too. We might still be walking through the mud of the earth's early days if it were not for enthusiasm. To stay young, you must be keen about something.

A man cannot honestly make a success in any undertaking unless he loves his work, because he must enter into it with enthusiasm. Without enthusiasm no life can be attended with success. It blinds us to the criticisms of the world which so often dampen our very earliest efforts. It fills us not with the desire only, but with the resolve of doing well whatsoever is occupying our attention. There are important cases, says a writer, in which the differences between half a heart and a whole heart makes the difference between signal failure and a splendid success. Successful men owe more to their perseverance than to their natural powers or the favorable circumstances around them. Genius falters by the side of labor. Great powers yield to great industry. Talent is desirable, but perseverance more so. Success is not measured by what a man accomplishes, but by the opposition he has encountered and the courage with which he has maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.

Enthusiasm is not a special talent that only certain, lucky people have, but it is a decision.

—C. Paul Smith, The France Mission, Paris, France, Feb. 15, 1972.

Take away a man's enthusiasm and you have taken away his accelerator.

—Roy L. Smith, Tampa Morning Tribune, Tampa, Fla., Nov. 14, 1933.

Never spell enthusiasm the way that the ordinary "run of the mill" type of people think that it should be spelled. To them enthusiasm spells everything that is out of the ordinary. Indeed! Enthusiasm is inspired ACTION. Thus, it is spelled Enthusi-action.

—Morris W. Taylor, Motivator, Portland, Ore., June 1969.

Enthusiasm is an enduring, steady purpose, the holding of an ideal in the mind, and unceasing striving for it until it is attained. Enthusiasm is the idealizing of our life work and connecting our work with large human interests.

—George M. Vincent, The I.S.C. Student, Ames, Iowa, March 9, 1908.

There is no power to match the influence of enthusiasm. It is the speaker's trump card, the writer's greatest device, the preacher's only hope for effectiveness, and it is the one factor which can remove obstacles and break down resistances which yield to no other force. Emerson said, "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." But to be of benefit enthusiasm must be controlled and directed to definite ends.

It has been said that men, like automobiles, go forward by a series of explosions. Enthusiasm might be said to be the explosive power of the personality. Enthusiasm has been said to be the fuse that connects with the train of powder. Every person needs enthusiasm to explode his abilities and potentials.

—Golden Gateway, Oakland, Calif., June 1965.

Enthusiasm rises on adversity, breakfasts on obstacles, dines on the fruits of labor, and sleeps on the tail feathers of its competitors. Enthusiasm is the spark plug that drives us on to greater effort until we reach the goal line of achievement.

—Daily Herald, Provo, Utah, Jan. 1, 1947.

Enthusiasm is the right charge of power to have back of the bullet of ambition.

—Louisville Herald, Louisville, Ky., Oct. 19, 1906.

Enthusiasm is a power when it is driven by right principle over the track of right method.

—New York Observer, New York, N.Y., July 9, 1896.

Enthusiasm climbs to success on the stepping stones that listlessness calls obstacles.

—William T. Ellis, Idaho Statesman, Boise, Idaho, July 23, 1916.

Enthusiasm is not noisy. It doth not vaunt itself. It does keep one close to duty. It restrains from little aims. It elevates the mind. It clears away the useless.

When a good man's name is defamed, if he defends himself, the base slanderers say he is a braggart, talking too much of himself. If he does not defend himself, they say that his silence is a confession of his guilt. And...